Abstract : The social value attributed to certain behaviour and the rejection towards its opposing behaviour characterise social norms. Recent studies carried out in Buenos Aires, Argentina, have shown that top-level chiefs approve of obedience o “aligned behaviour” among their subordinates. This evidences the existence of an obedience social norm that subordinates are aware of.
Thus three main questions arise: 1) Are mid-level chiefs (i.e. subordinates managers) conscious of this ‘alignment’ norm in a global or in a selective way?, 2) Is this norm followed spontaneously or deliberately? and 3) Does this behaviour vary depending on the subject being employed or unemployed? The paradigm of spontaneous versus over-normative versus counter-normative self report was employed to find answers to these questions. One hundred and eighty mid-level chiefs were divided into three groups. Within these groups, half of them were employed, the other half were unemployed. Each group was asked to answer considering three different attitudes: the first group was asked to answer spontaneously, the second group was asked to answer considering a good impression wanted to be given, and the third group had to answer as if giving a bad impression of
themselves was their intention. Each participant within these groups was presented with a list of options from which to choose how they would behave.
It was observed that aligned behaviour is valued depending on the given context. However, there is no consciousness of the norm when subordinates behave in that way due to selfcensorship or due to respect towards legitimacy. This specific aspect shows up in each and every paradigm presented: spontaneous, over-normative, counter-normative and also, even though to a
lesser extent, independently of the fact of being employed or unemployed at the moment of the study. Further from these concrete findings, it becomes evident the need for an item-by-item analysis which avoids making quick generalizations.